1.Introduction

1.1 Question being addressed

Many bridges around the world has collapsed due to many factors. Some bridges collapsed due to the material used in the bridge. The Tuo River bridge in Fenghuang, Hunan collapsed on 12 August 2007 as shoddy materials was used to build the bridge, in an effort to cut costs (Wikipedia).Other reasons for bridges to collapse is due to the design of the bridge, like the Myllysilta bridge in Turku, Finland which collapsed on 6 March 2010, (Wikipedia). A structural failure of both piers led to the bridge to bend 143 centimeters, causing the bridge to collapse.

Thus, there have been many measures to allow bridges to be more sturdy, such as ensuring proper initial construction, more thorough inspections, painting protective coatings and paints, such as epoxy resins and polyurethanes onto bridges to prevent corrosion from happening. These measures work towards reducing the chances of the bridges from collapsing due to different circumstances.

Other than these measures which have already been implemented in existing bridges, what other ways are there to reduce the chances of the bridge collapsing? Does the design actually help to increase the amount of weight the bridge can hold? What design has the greatest efficiency? Through our research, we aim to find out the answers to these questions.

We aim to find out if the design of a bridge affects the maximum loading capacity of the bridges. We intend to do so by building 3 bridges with different designs with ice cream sticks for to see which bridge design would have the highest efficiency.

1.3 Hypothesis

The hypothesis is:

-The bridge design with the through truss will be able to withstand the most amount of weight as compared to the other designs.

1.3.1 Independent variable

Our independent variable:

-the structural design of the bridge

1.3.2 Dependent variables

Our dependent variable:

-the efficiency of the bridge

1.3.3 Controlled variables

Our controlled variables:

-type of material used to build the bridge (ice cream sticks)

-the amount of glue that is applied onto the bridge

-the weight of the bridge

-the length of the bridge

1.3.4 Expected Outcome

After compiling and comparing our data, we expect to find the bridge with the through truss to support more weight than the bridge with the deck and we expect the conclusions we make to be supported by other previously-completed research papers.